ESPN Men's Basketball

MILWAUKEE -- As Jordan Crawford popped the front of his jersey and Dante Jackson waved the Xavier flag in front of hundreds of navy-clad fans, Xavier's band struck up an old but familiar tune: Aretha Franklin's "Respect."

Whether the choice was conscious or not, it was fitting. Unequivocally -- not as a "mid-major" or "non-BCS", but unequivocally -- Xavier deserves your respect.

With its 71-68 win over No. 3-seed Pittsburgh Sunday night, Xavier became one of two programs in the entire country to advance to the Sweet 16 the past three years. The other is Michigan State. Guess which one gets more ink?

"Xavier's always overlooked," Jordan Crawford, who filed away another brilliant performance Sunday, scoring 27 points and grabbing six rebounds in the win.

"'Mid-major' is just a label," forward Jason Love said. "I don't think too many mid-majors get to three straight Sweet Sixteens, so you can just throw that out the window right now."

"I was watching ESPN the other night," Terrell Holloway said. "I thought Doug Gottlieb said it best. He said we're a mid-major program with high-major talent. If you look at the teams we've beaten over the last couple of years, you know what kind of team we are."

In case it wasn't clear, Xavier doesn't much like being called a mid-major. To be fair, it doesn't much look like one. The Musketeers are stocked with the sort of talent that could play at any program in the country; Crawford and Holloway were top-level recruits that would likely have been starting at a blue-blood program (Indiana) were it not for the Kelvin Sampson sanctions and dismissal. Likewise, Love is the sort of dominant, physical big that most mid-majors simply don't have. Xavier has a plethora of talent. Unlike some mid-majors, the Musketeers don't look out of place among the country's elite.

"We don't look at ourselves as being anything other than a high-major program," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "From the way we travel, to the way we recruit, to the amenities our kids enjoy."

The Musketeers got a measure of revenge on the way back to their third straight Sweet 16 Sunday. Pittsburgh beat Xavier in the third round last year. The similarities between the two programs probably outweigh their differences: Both teams lost key players to the NBA and graduation, both teams were young, and both teams outperformed expectations for much of the season. As programs, both XU and Pitt under Jamie Dixon seem to have a way of plugging along each year, losing key personnel but finding ways to win conference titles and make deep runs in the NCAA tournament.

Pittsburgh's success this season, after losing three dominant players from 2009's No. 1-seeded NCAA tournament team, was something of a surprise. The Panthers waved farewell to DeJuan Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields in the offseason, and were expected by most to stay safely outside the top 25 for much of the season. Few predicted Pitt would finish in the top half of the Big East, let alone nab a No. 3 seed in this year's tournament. But that's exactly what they did.

"That's something that gets talked more about from outside our program than inside," Dixon said. "I think this group had total confidence in themselves. Some people may look at it as a surprise. I know we weren't picked that high. But where we got to, there's disappointment in that locker room and a feeling that we didn't win a game that we felt we should have won."

The Panthers started slowly in Sunday night's game and watched as Xavier built a 13-point lead in the beginning of the second half. Pittsburgh quickly climbed back into the game, though, largely thanks to guards Brad Wannamaker and Gilbert Brown, whose transition layups cut X's lead to one with eight minutes left in the second half.

Xavier remained composed. The Musketeers built another miniature lead in the closing minutes, but wavered slightly as Pittsburgh closed it again. Jackson missed two free throws with seven seconds remaining, and Pitt had two separate chances at a game-tying three in the final seconds. Both missed.

"They're a good program," Dixon said. "We're a good program. You know, it comes down to one possession. They're happy and we're suffering inside the locker room."

Indeed, Xavier got its joyful revenge and, if it hadn't already, earned what Aretha would famously term a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. And in case you still weren't convinced?

"Check our track record," Mack said. "It's pretty good."

MILWAUKEE -- Some quick postgame thoughts on Xavier's 71-68 win over Pittsburgh before the coaches and players address the media:

• Pittsburgh's toughness has been one of its defining qualities all season, and it was on display again Sunday night. Pittsburgh let Xavier build a 13-point lead early in the second half. The Musketeers looked comfortable, ready to roll to an easy win and a Sweet 16 berth. Instead, thanks to a really bad batch of Xavier transition defense, Pitt came roaring back with a 12-0 run to cut Xavier's lead to one. This was a theme of the second half -- easy shots. Pitt wasn't making unlikely jumpers or reaching for difficult finishes. The Panthers were getting inside and scoring point-blank layups with minimal interference from the Musketeers defense.
• Xavier quickly answered, though, slowing the game down, shoring up the transition D, and building its lead back to 57-49 on a tough and-one finish by point guard Terrell Holloway. Pitt refused to go away, cutting the lead to four on a Gilbert Brown three with 1:45 remaining -- and again to three with 15.9 left -- but the Panthers would never draw even with Xavier again.
• After carrying his team with 18 points in the first, Pitt guard Ashton Gibbs largely vanished in the second half, shooting just three times and scoring one point.
• Jordan Crawford was great again: 27 points on 9-of-15 from the field, plus six rebounds. Crawford is a special scorer.
• Speaking of which, Crawford is getting really good at that patented little hanging scoop shot of his. Crawford had one in Friday's game against Minnesota that sent the crowd into fits. He followed that on Sunday with a nearly identical -- and just as beautiful -- layup, and the crowd responded with a chorus of "oooohhh." It's a novel way to take contact around the rim and still finish the play, and it requires a special level of athleticism and skill. Crawford has both in spades.
• College basketball fans of America: We get it. You don't like the referees. Sharing this fact every second of every game your team plays is probably going a little overboard, though. Rein it in, huh? Cool? Cool.

MILWAUKEE -- Some quick halftime thoughts from Xavier's hot start against Pittsburgh:

• Today, Xavier guard Dante Jackson does one thing, and one thing only: shoot 3-pointers. Fortunately, thus far, this ability has been more than enough -- Jackson is 3-for-5 from behind the arc, which helped Xavier go on a 16-0 run. For much of the first half, Xavier looked like the complete offensive team that registered so high in adjusted offensive efficiency this season. Jordan Crawford scored 10 points 4-of-8 from the field, while Jason Love added six points.
• Oh, and Crawford also added three rebounds, a steal and a block. He's not just a scorer, which is, at the risk of beating a slightly dead horse, a sign of how much he's matured since his freshman campaign two years ago at Indiana.
• Speaking of balance, Pittsburgh's win over Oakland was a testament to the team's balance, as six players scored in double figures -- and leading scorer Ashton Gibbs wasn't one of them. Today? Not so balanced: Ashton Gibbs has 18 points on 6-for-12 shooting in the first half. His teammates have scored a combined three field goals. Gibbs is shooting the ball with a lot of confidence, good to see after his vacancy Friday night, but if Pitt wants to keep up with Xavier, they'll have to get more people involved.
• The Xavier fans behind me are some of the most vocal, and borderline frightening, I've heard all weekend. One fan in particular is intent on informing the referees that, and I quote, "If the shoulder goes into the chest, it's a charge." This young man probably repeated this line, oh, 40 times in the first half. It got to the point where the fans around him were finishing the line with him and cheering afterward. People: Don't encourage this. It's killing me. Stop.
• Speaking of the fans here, the reaction to today's two Big Ten games was disparate. Wisconsin's blowout loss to Cornell was greeted with a hush and a gasp. Michigan State's win was greeted with quite a few boos. Either a lot of people had Maryland in their bracket, or the upper-midwest-Big Ten love isn't quite as strong as I thought.

MILWAUKEE -- For 20 minutes, Ohio State looked decidedly average. Then the Buckeyes decided to run.

It was that style that separated Thad Matta's squad from a physical Georgia Tech team in a 75-66 win. With No. 1 Kansas conspicuously out of the way, the victory carried the top-seeded team left in the Midwest into a Sweet Sixteen match up with No. 6-seed Tennessee.

Ohio State had problems with Georgia Tech's defense in the first half. The Jackets were physical, making Evan Turner work for every inbounds pass and pressing him the length of the floor. By the time OSU got the ball into the half court offense, Turner was effective but not efficient, making six of his 15 shots. The rest of the Buckeyes were stagnant and off-kilter.

Here's a blessing for balance, then: When Ohio State returned from its halftime break, the Buckeyes took a different approach. They didn't stall in the halfcourt -- they went right at the Jackets, right to the bucket, and right to a win.

"We were attacking," Turner said. "Once we got into the backcourt, we attacked."

That change in mindset led to an 18-6 run in the first seven minutes of the first half that extended Ohio State's lead to 46-32. Rather than settling for challenged jump shots, Ohio State led off the half with three dunks and several layups. Then Buckeyes guard Jon Diebler found his stroke, and not even an impressive late run by Georgia Tech was enough to keep the Buckeyes from coasting to the second weekend of NCAA tournament play.

"Evan, he kind of kept us in the game with his aggressiveness," Diebler said. "And that's why I think we're such a dangerous team. We're a very good basketball team, because he is going to draw so much attention and that just leaves for some easy shots for us."

This was always the game the Buckeyes needed to play against a slow, physical team like the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech didn't do itself any favors -- no pun intended, promise -- by getting its big men Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors into so much foul trouble. Lawal and Favors played a combined 45 minutes in the game, and neither player ever established himself on either end of the ball.

"[It was a] big difference," Matta said when asked about a Favors- and Lawal-less Georgia Tech team. "Because I think that going into the game we were consumed with those two and what they were capable of doing. ... Watching the Oklahoma State game, they seemed engrossed in pounding the ball inside. We knew they were going to try to do that to us today.

"When they're not on the floor, they're definitely, definitely a different basketball team."

MILWAUKEE -- Some quick postgame thoughts from Ohio State's better-late-than-never 75-66 win over Georgia Tech:

• Well, that's more like it: The Buckeyes struggled to get good looks in the first half, and their offense was almost entirely limited to standstill half-court sets against Georgia Tech's grinding defense. By the first few minutes of the second half, Ohio State looked like a different team playing an entirely different game. The Buckeyes got out on the break, opening up with a series of layups and dunks en route to an 18-6 run in the first 7:30 of the second half. The looks that wouldn't fall for OSU in the first half began to fall with more frequency. Jon Diebler got hot. The most important bit, though, was the type of shots the Buckeyes were getting. It's a lot harder to miss dunks.
• Georgia Tech, meanwhile, didn't do much to keep up. The Yellow Jackets went long stretches without leading scorer Gani Lawal, who was saddled with foul trouble throughout the game. Without him, Tech's offense devolved into a plodding inside-out half-court mess that didn't yield much in the way of good looks. Freshman uber-recruit Derrick Favors is clearly talented, but he has a long way to go until he becomes an effective back-to-the-basket player.
• Credit the Jackets for sticking around, though. Georgia Tech could have gone away softly after Ohio State took over, but Favors and company came back and cut the deficit to four with 1:50 remaining. Turner made two free throws, Glen Rice Jr. missed a long 3, and David Lighty was given an intentional foul on the ensuing break. Paul Hewitt and Georgia Tech's fate was sealed.
• Evan Turner Watch: Unlike Friday, Turner looked like his normal self in the stat line, scoring 24 points, grabbing nine rebounds, dishing eight assists and grabbing three steals. (Turner, as he is prone to do, also had a big turnover day, finishing with nine.) Like Friday, Turner was once again clearly frustrated with the officials, doing the whole "I'll look at you incredulously and then walk away laughing" thing that he's perfected in the first two rounds here. To be fair, Turner was getting hacked. But it's clear his appeals to the officials, much like the appeals of his coach, are falling on deaf ears.
• Watching Diebler shoot in person is ... well, I don't want to say it's an honor, because that feels too maudlin. But it is a genuine joy. Diebler has one of the purest strokes in college basketball. The form is perfect, the release lightning quick. He's one of those rare shooters whose shots you expect to go down every time the ball leaves his hand. At this point, that calculation is the smart one.

MILWAUKEE -- Some quick halftime thoughts from a relatively ugly first half in Milwaukee:

• Georgia Tech hasn't quite dominated in the post the way it should. Gani Lawal had a good half, but counterpart Derrick Favors has been relatively invisible. More drastic is the Yellow Jackets' paucity of offensive rebounds -- Georgia Tech didn't grab a single offensive rebound until there were about four minutes left, and even that rebound was quickly slapped away by Ohio State's defense. Thus far, the combination of Dallas Lauderdale and OSU's athletic guards have been enough to keep the Jackets away from the basket.
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Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesOhio State's Evan Turner led all scorers with 16 first-half points.
• Some of that might have to do with OSU's defense, which starts as a 1-3-1 full-court trap and then switches either to a half-court zone or into man-to-man, based on the calls relayed by OSU's bench to Turner, who then signals the defense with a hand signal. The half-court zone has been effective because it places a defender on the front and help sides of Lawal, making it difficult for him to get good catches in the post. It's also led to some open jumpers for Georgia Tech.
• Not that it's mattered -- both teams shot putrid percentages in the first half, especially from beyond the arc. Ohio State made just two of its 11 3s; Georgia Tech went 2-for-8. Georgia Tech has done a good job making things difficult for the Buckeyes' shooters. (Jon Diebler especially has felt pressure coming off high screens.) But there have been plenty of open looks, too. OSU just isn't hitting them.
• As I hinted above, this has not been a pretty game. Obviously, the shooting hasn't been great, but we've also had a combined 21 turnovers. Georgia Tech has 12 of them, but still, you have to think the Jackets like this level of ugliness.
• In obligatory Evan Turner Watch news, Turner has played better much than his ugly first-round performance, scoring 16 points and adding three steals, two rebounds and two assists. Not to nitpick, but Turner hasn't been his typically efficient self today: Those 16 points came on 6-of-15 shooting, and he has just as many turnovers as assists. So far in this tournament, Turner has been an ineffective shooter; he's at his best when he's driving to the rim, using his perfect footwork, and scoring layups.
• Is it just me, but when Ohio State fans do their famous "O-H-I-O" chant, are the O's not completely indistinguishable from the I's? I guess the message still comes across. But it is funny to sit and pretend the Buckeyes' backers are chanting I-H-I-I. (OK, maybe it is just me.)

MILWAUKEE -- We're down to the final two games of what has been a fairly well-played -- and certainly well-organized -- regional this weekend. Sure, it lacked the first-round insanity experienced in other parts of the country, but there's still plenty of time. Let's run it down:

Midwest Region: Ohio State (2) vs. Georgia Tech (10), 2:20 p.m. ET


Key to the game: Can Ohio State stop Georgia Tech's size? In a way, Ohio State is a much better, more talented version of the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who Georgia Tech was able to outlast on Friday. The Jackets' strategy was never a mystery. Paul Hewitt wants his team to get the ball down low to forwards Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors -- preferably Lawal, if it's a back-to-the-basket situation -- where the Jackets hold a size-plus-talent advantage over just about anyone in the country. Oklahoma State was a guard-oriented team without the size to really stop Georgia Tech down low. The same goes for Ohio State, which, while much more talented on the perimeter, really only ever plays one center at a time and ignores its bench for huge stretches of most games. Does Ohio State change what it's done successfully thus far? Or do the Buckeyes counter the Jackets' size with their offensive versatility on the other end, daring the Jackets to keep up with the likes of Evan Turner, David Lighty, William Buford, and Jon Diebler all at once?

Player to watch: Turner is the obvious choice here. He struggled in the Buckeyes' easy win over UCSB Friday night. Georgia Tech shut down a similarly talented guard in Oklahoma State's James Anderson Friday. Do the Jackets get the best of Turner? Or does the guard rebound with a Turner-esque performance?

Who has the edge: It's a little easy to make too much of Georgia Tech's size, which does present matchup problems for the Buckeyes, but it's also important to remember why Georgia Tech struggled for so much of the season: Size doesn't equal cohesion. The Buckeyes should prove to be too complete for Hewitt's sporadic team.

West Region: Pittsburgh (3) vs. Xavier (6), 4:50 p.m.


Key to the game: Team defense. Pittsburgh doesn't have any bonafide stars, but they do play a balanced style that forces their opponents to defend all five players at any given time; there are few opportunities to cheat in help-side against the Panthers. Xavier will have to submit a complete, comprehensive defensive performance to keep Pittsburgh from getting too many open, settled looks. The reverse of that is that Pittsburgh will likewise have to play good team defense against Xavier, whose efficient offense starts with Jordan Crawford, but can just as easily end with Terrell Holloway or Jason Love. Xavier wants to push the pace; Pittsburgh wants to slow it down. When Xavier does run, Pitt will have to pick up Crawford in the secondary break immediately, or they'll be on their heels trying to defend a player whose offensive creativity makes that very difficult to do.

Player to watch: As with Turner above, Crawford is the obvious pick here. As he goes, so goes the Xavier offense. Also keep an eye on Pittsburgh leading scorer Ashton Gibbs. Pitt had six scorers in double figures against Oakland Friday; Gibbs was not one of them.

Who has the edge: Pittsburgh, but only barely. The Panthers are a good enough defensive team to stall Crawford and prevent other players from beating them, and their willingness to control the pace of the game should be enough to slow down Chris Mack's team. But if Crawford gets hot, look out. This one could go either way.

MILWAUKEE -- The more things change, the more -- well, you know.

After these two teams met in the Sweet 16 last year, both braced for an exodus. At Xavier, former coach Sean Miller left for greener -- and I don't mean grassier -- pastures in Arizona. B.J. Raymond and C.J. Anderson graduated and Derrick Brown left for the NBA. At Pittsburgh, coach Jamie Dixon saw his three leading scorers -- DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, and Levance Fields -- move on.

And yet, here we are again. Pittsburgh and Xavier barely resemble the 2008-09 squads that met in last year's Sweet Sixteen, but both teams are, despite preseason expectations, back for another battle.

"We definitely remember that from last year," Xavier forward Jason Love said. "But we're two different teams. Some guys from their team played in it and some didn't, just like us."

It's a remarkable statement both of these programs that this second annual meeting is even happening in the first place. Few predicted Pittsburgh would spend much, if any, of their 2009-10 campaign in the top 25. Instead, the Panthers were supposed to be rebuilding, recovering from the loss of their undisputed four-year leader, Fields, as well as one of the more dominating rebounders in recent college basketball history in Blair.

Instead, after struggling early Pitt stormed the Big East, winning its first five games, hanging tough throughout the year, and securing a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. And when the rest of the Big East fell away in the first round, Pittsburgh handled undermatched Oakland with the balanced efficiency of a well-oiled machine.

"Pittsburgh, whether it's the offensive end or defensive end, is a very challenging team," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. "It's been remarkable what they've done."

Mack is right, but he might save some of that praise for the job he's done in his first year at Xavier. After losing a host of big, physical personnel, Mack adapted his style to his new players -- most notably uptempo scorer Jordan Crawford and point guard Terrell Holloway. The Musketeers have gone from being one of the better defenses in the country with a decent offense to having one of the best offenses in the country and an decent defense. And yet, once again, they're here, having won at least one game in the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive year.

Xavier will have its hands full with Pittsburgh's balanced attack. The Panthers had six scorers in double figures in its Friday win over Oakland. Likewise, the Panthers will have to come up with a way to stop Crawford, who was brilliant in Xavier's first-round win over Minnesota.

"He's going to get shots up," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "He gets a lot of shots. He's going to score some points. We've got to make it as tough as possible and guard him as much as possible, and [not give him anything] easy."

Whatever happens, it will be a testament to both programs this rematch -- a rematch in name only -- is indeed on the docket Sunday in Milwaukee. When asked to discuss his team's turnover at the open media session Friday, Jamie Dixon could have been talking about his opponents, too.

"I know you're supposed to follow the coaching manual, Coaching 101," Dixon said. "When you go into a year when you lose a whole bunch of guys you're supposed to talk about how young you are and inexperienced you are and what you don't have. You're supposed to lower expectations.

But with us and our team, we weren't going to go that route," Dixon continued. "We didn't lower our expectations. Our demands remained the same. And I think our players really bought into it. ... There would be no excuses for coming up short. That was the mentality that we had."

MILWAUKEE -- Thus far, there are a few things we know about Ohio State star and putative player of the year Evan Turner:

He's pretty good at the game of basketball. (OK, that one's a freebie.) He loves Lady Gaga. He doesn't much love the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. And there's one more: According to his teammates, Turner is, well, "different."

"He's just different," Ohio State guard David Lighty said Saturday. "Like we go out to eat or something, and he'll just order steak and bread, like a plain steak with nothing on it. That's what he'll eat. If his food is touching, he won't eat it. It's hard to explain. He's a little different in his own way. But it's nothing weird."

If one's mind immediately races to thoughts of Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's classic biopic "The Aviator," well, maybe the comparison is apt. Both were driven, both were geniuses at what they do, and both had their fair share of quirks. (To be fair to Turner, it seems doubtful the guard has ever spent months locked away in a private theater for fear of contracting invisible germs. There's quirky, and then there's Howard Hughes.)

In any case, Turner was certainly different in the Buckeyes' first-round game on Friday night. Usually demure, even good-natured, on the court, Turner was clearly agitated by the Gauchos, whose strategy for stopping the seemingly unstoppable guard revolved primarily around hacking Turner whenever he touched the ball. By the end of the game, even as Jon Diebler's 3s had pulled Ohio State comfortably away from UCSB, Turner was on the bench sarcastically jawing with referees.

Before the tournament began, Turner said he wanted to add a deep NCAA run to his Ohio State resume. To do that, he'll need to be more focused in Sunday night's game against Georgia Tech.

Thanks to their size, the Yellow Jackets present a serious challenge for Ohio State. The Buckeyes almost exclusively play four guards around center Dallas Lauderdale. Georgia Tech is one of the more imposing interior teams in the tournament; forwards Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors have the talent, to exert their will against anyone, let alone a team without the size to keep them out of the paint and off the offensive glass. If Lauderdale guards Lawal, who checks Favors? And vice versa?

"They've shown game after game after game they're really trying to pound the ball inside to the big guys," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "Which they should. They're extremely talented. But I think the misnomer is the guys on the perimeter can also play."

Georgia Tech certainly acquitted itself well Friday night. The Jackets faced -- and stopped -- a perimeter-oriented team in Oklahoma State with an elite scorer in James Anderson and a dead-eye shooter in Keiton Page. Jackets guard Iman Shumpert limited Anderson to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting, forcing the guard into two critical turnovers down the stretch. Page, meanwhile, hit three 3-pointers in the first half but couldn't find any space to operate in the second.

To be sure, Oklahoma State isn't as talented as the Buckeyes; Turner and Diebler are very different players than Anderson and Page, and the Cowboys don't have the same type of peripheral options in Lighty and William Buford. But the template -- get the ball down low, stop the opponent's star guard, and win ugly down the stretch -- is there. Can Ohio State overcome it?

To do so, they'll need their quirky star to start looking less "different" and more like the Evan Turner that dominated college basketball for four months.

"I've known Evan for a long time," Matta said. "He may have reverted back a little bit [Friday night] to his freshman and early sophomore years. But he's in great spirits. He was in phenomenal spirits after the game."

MILWAUKEE -- You almost have to feel for the Gauchos. UC Santa Barbara clawed, fought, stripped, poked, prodded -- and, yes, hacked -- Evan Turner into one of the worst games the surefire national player of the year has had in all of 2009-10.

It didn't matter. Not one bit.

With Turner off, Ohio State sharpshooter Jon Diebler more than picked up his star teammate's slack -- scoring 23 points, hitting a barrage of 3-pointers and giving the Buckeyes an easy 68-51 win over the No. 15-seeded Gauchos Friday night.

"Evan was struggling a little bit," Diebler said. "He did a good job of finding the open guy."

By the time Turner came out of the game with less than four minutes left, he looked as frustrated as he has, well, maybe ever. UCSB had a very clear strategy for dealing with the Buckeyes' star -- harassment.

For the most part, it worked: The usually demure Turner was noticeably agitated throughout the second half, smiling incredulously at times, shaking his head at others. (Even after he was removed, Turner was sharing what appeared to be friendly conversations with the referees, even if the referees didn't seem quite so friendly in return.) Turner finished with a very un-Evan nine points on 2-of-14 shooting. (Though he did add 10 rebounds.)

"I thought there was a couple things that were happening that I was trying to get changed as well," OSU coach Thad Matta said, when asked about Turner's body language. "Evan's got to keep his composure and keep playing through it. He'll be all right."

Fortunately, the Buckeyes aren't a one-man team. Fortunately, Diebler -- along with fellow guard William Buford, who finished with 16 points -- weren't a focus of UCSB's campaign of irritation. OSU big man Dallas Lauderdale anchored the Buckeyes' middle, turning away eight Gauchos shots and grabbing 12 rebounds in the process.

Diebler's performance was especially impressive, given the guard has spent much of the past week suffering from the flu. Diebler didn't practice Tuesday and was sick at practice on Thursday; he ate for the first time in several days Friday. Feeling better, the sharpshooting guard played all 40 minutes Friday night.

"I was feeling pretty good," Diebler said. "Now I'm really tired, and really hungry. I can't wait to go back to the hotel and eat."

MILWAUKEE -- Some quick postgame thoughts on Ohio State's relatively easy 68-51 win before Jon Diebler splashes another three-pointer:

• The Gauchos found a way to get to Evan Turner -- hack him. The putative player of the year was hounded relentlessly in the second half, the worst of which came in an early sequence when Turner nearly gave the ball up at the top of the key, got it back, tried to drive to the rim again, seemed to get fouled, grabbed the ball, passed it, seemed to get fouled again, gave the ball up, and then was clearly shoved by UCSB guard Jordan Weiner. Turner walked away from the play, shaking his head and smiling.
• The fun didn't end there -- Turner, usually a mild-mannered guy on the court, became noticeably chatty with UCSB guard James Nunnally. Diebler got in on the action, too, staring Dunnally down after he a made 3-pointer. Dallas Lauderdale added to the festivities with a pair of huge dunks; after both, Turner stood at the free throw line, set up in the Buckeyes' press, giving one of those stone-cold "don't mess with us" looks you rarely see from the demure All-American. If anything, it was entertaining. Note to the Gauchos again: Guard Diebler. And don't make Turner angry. I was intimidated, and I was sitting on the sideline with a laptop.
• Jawing aside, there's no question Turner didn't open the tournament with his finest performance: nine points on 2-of-14 from the field. It goes without saying that Turner will have to be more efficient -- and less willing to settle for the jump shot -- in Sunday's second-round game with Georgia Tech.
• Diebler's performance more than made up for Turner's lack of points. The Buckeyes' designated sharpshooter went 7-of-11 from 3 to score 23 points and buoy the Buckeyes' offense when Turner couldn't get things working.
• Fellow guard William Buford contributed 16 points, while Lauderdale added eight blocks and 12 rebounds on the way to the win.

MILWAUKEE -- Some halftime thoughts as Ohio State fights off the pesky Gauchos and goes into the half with a 30-17 lead:

• I'm not just being polite: UC Santa Barbara is pesky. Before Ohio State built an early 13-3 lead, I tweeted that tonight's late game had the look of a blowout. Sometimes the little guys look game. Sometimes the mid-major has the sort of size and athleticism you see at any major school. Sometimes the talent difference is just too blatant to ignore. And no sooner than I announced that to the world than the Gauchos put on a run of their own, cutting the lead to 13-12 and getting the entire Bradley Center crowd -- well, except for the OSU section -- on its feet. Ohio State soon got its bearings; Jon Diebler hit a few wide-open 3-pointers, Dallas Lauderdale swatted a few Gauchos chances, and the lead was right back to 27-13 at the 3:32 mark. But for a minute there, the upset looked not only possible, but plausible.
• Oh, and note to the Gauchos: Don't leave Diebler open. Ever. Surely the scouting report had something like this in there. (Diebler is 4-of-6 from behind the arc thus far.)
• Evan Turner is the best player in this pod, but he isn't playing like it tonight: The Villian is 1-for-6 from the field with five points (though he does have six rebounds, which is proof that you can never really stop The Villian, even when you are). Thus far, Turner seems a little too content to settle for his jump shot, which is undoubtedly the weakest part of his game.
• UCSB's band is dressed in full Gaucho attire, complete with gaucho hat, blue-and-gold poncho, and even the occasional thick-bristle mustache. It can't be the most comfortable garb; gauchos off to the band (see what I did there?) for the dedication.
• Among the things I mentally checked off on the UCSB scouting report: Greg Somogyi, the Gauchos' 7-foot-2 reserve center who towers over the Buckeyes, including big man Dallas Lauderdale. Somogyi is clearly a 7-foot-2 center at a place like UCSB for a reason -- he's paper-thin and struggles to hold his position on offense. But there's no question he's affected several of the Buckeyes' shots on the defensive end.

MILWAUKEE -- No one would accuse these Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets of being pretty.

There's nothing aesthetic about their approach. Georgia Tech is bigger, stronger, and more athletic than you, and they defend as well as their size would suggest. Offense? That's even less pretty. But pretty doesn't always equal victory, and as ugly -- and as frustrating -- as Georgia Tech has been at times in 2009-10, the Jackets appear to be peaking at just the right time.

After finishing second in the ACC tournament, Georgia Tech opened its NCAA tourney with a win over No. 7 seed Oklahoma State. Ugly or not, Georgia Tech is still standing.

"That was a really good team we just beat," coach Paul Hewitt said.

How did they do it? Step one: Get the ball down low and -- when necessary -- rebound it. With Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech has a size advantage against any team they play. This was especially true of guard-oriented Oklahoma State. Favors and Lawal got the ball low. They scored. And they rebounded. Simple enough.

Step two? Stop the opposing team's star scorer, James Anderson. Mission accomplished: Anderson scored a mere 11 points on 3-of-12 from the field, and his two turnovers down the stretch end up being crucial in the Georgia Tech win.

Step three? Get lucky. After coach Paul Hewitt called his last timeout with a minute remaining, Georgia Tech was able to get a full 35-second shot clock when it appeared Oklahoma State had stopped the Jackets.

"That's what it takes to win at this time of year," Hewitt said. "You have to play great defense, which we know we can do, rebound the ball, which we know we can do, and hope for a break at the end."

Georgia Tech got all three, and while it may not have been the most enticing game of the year -- and Georgia Tech, despite all that talent, is certainly not its most entertaining -- the Jackets are still here.

MILWAUKEE -- Some quick postgame thoughts on Georgia Tech's 64-59 win before I do the customary sprint to the press conferences (and back) in t-minus 30 minutes:

• It was at times hard to tell from the atmosphere in the arena -- too many Ohio State fans, I guess? -- but this was one of the more intense games we've had all of Friday. No team ever lead by more than a couple of baskets, the lead was traded several times in the closing minutes of the game, and just when either team seemed ready to go on a run, the other got a huge bucket to keep things within reach. It may not have been the prettiest basketball we've seen all year, but at least it was competitive.
• Today was not James Anderson's day. The star Cowboys guard never really found his rhythm. Anderson often used two and three screens in a possession to try and free himself for an open look, frequently to no avail. He finished with 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting. (Anderson' s biggest contribution was a steal and a dunk in the final four minutes of regulation, which tied the score at 54-54. A more dubious contribution was the steal he gave up to Iman Shumpert in the final two minutes, which led to two Shumpert free throws. Another dubious one: The turnover in the final seconds, as the Cowboys trailed by three, that effectively sealed the game for Georgia Tech.
• Georgia Tech's strategy was pretty transparent throughout the game, but it took until the second half for the Yellow Jackets to execute it. It's simple: Get the ball into the paint. Get it to Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal (and, failing that, Zachary Peacock). And let them go to work. This has really been the operating strategy for Georgia Tech for much of the year -- Favors and Lawal are the team's top two scorers for a reason -- but the process is at times far more frustrating than it should be. Against a team like Oklahoma State, undersized on the front line, Georgia Tech should take advantage. For much of the second half -- which is to say, finally -- they did.
• Oklahoma State was, however, able to overcome that size difference on their own offensive end, where they got plenty of good looks at the basket throughout the game. Those looks usually came from good motion offense; when the Cowboys grew stagnant and tried to create scores one-on-one, the Jackets were too athletic and long and Oklahoma State struggled to get clean shots. (There's a reason Tech's defense was so much better than its offense this year: Athleticism is much more of an asset on defense. Today proved why.)